Mario Andretti - 1978 Mario Andretti Share Mario Andretti personified the American Dream, an immigrant who came to the land of the free and the home of the brave and achieved considerable fame and fortune. He did so in a job he would have done in anonymity and for nothing. Few drivers loved their racing more, and few suited stardom as much as the congenial man whose unforced charm was as natural as the talent that brought him so much success in so many types of racing. His insistence on racing in his adopted homeland meant he came late to realising his boyhood ambition of becoming Formula One World Champion. Next Previous 1 / 7 Watkins Glen, October 1968: Andretti caused a sensation when he took pole position on his Formula One debut in the Lotus 49B at the United States Grand Prix. He retired from the race but was offered a full-time drive with the team. © Sutton Images Kyalami, March 1969: Andretti’s Formula One appearances were sporadic for the next five years as he concentrated on American commitments.

He qualified sixth for the 1969 South African Grand Prix in the Lotus 49B, but then retired with gearbox difficulties. © Sutton Images Kyalami, March 1971: Andretti was called in by Ferrari to replace the fatally injured Ignazio Giunti at the season-opening South African Grand Prix. He promptly took his maiden Formula One victory at the wheel of the 312B. © Sutton Images Monte Carlo, May 1975: Andretti competed with the Parnelli team in all but two rounds of the 1975 world championship. His Monaco retirement, in their VPJ14 machine, was one of seven that year. © Sutton Images Monte Carlo , May 1975: Andretti was Parnelli’s sole driver for the team’s brief, 16-race Formula One career. He took fastest lap at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix and recorded their best race result – a fourth – in Sweden later that year. © Schlegelmilch Fuji, October 1976: Returning to Lotus, Andretti took his second Formula One win five years after his first.

Having grabbed pole in the team’s 77 car, he tamed the wet conditions to take victory in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix. © Sutton Images Long Beach, April 1977: Andretti celebrates a popular home win. It was one of four victories that season at the wheel of the revolutionary Lotus 78, giving him third place in the drivers’ championship. © Sutton Images After it became his way of life he always said he was born to race, yet the circumstances in his formative years forced Mario Andretti to take an exceedingly circuitous route to get where he wanted to go. Mario and his twin brother Aldo were born on February 28, 1940, with World War II raging all around their birthplace of Montona, a town near the Italian port city of Trieste. The brothers' first seven years were spent in a camp for displaced persons, where the Andretti family endured exceedingly crowded conditions and severe food shortages. When the war ended and their part of Italy was handed over to the Communists and became part of what was then Yugoslavia, the Andrettis moved to Lucca, where young Mario first became aware of the sport that was to become his all-consuming passion.

With his brother he cycled from home to watch in wonder that portion near Lucca of the famous Mille Miglia road race that sent sports cars hurtling a thousand miles through the Italian landscape. But what really captured Mario's imagination was a visit to the 1954 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where he was transfixed by the sights and sounds of the exotic Lancia, Maserati and Ferrari Formula One cars and held spellbound by the heroic exploits of such drivers as Juan Manuel Fangio and Alberto Ascari. It was the latter who became Mario's idol and though he was distraught when Italy's great champion was killed at Monza in 1955, Ascari remained his inspiration and role model. In the same year as Ascari's death the Andretti family emigrated to America in search of a better way of life. For the boys this meant seeking ways to become involved in motorsport, which around their new home town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, mainly took the form of relatively unsophisticated machinery competing on dangerous dirt track ovals. Mario and Aldo were 18 when they began racing, at the wheel of a self-prepared Hudson Hornet they shared in stock car events.

In one of these, in 1959, Aldo crashed and was seriously injured and never raced again. But Mario raced on and on – often several times a week, sometimes as many as five races a day, and with increasing success. All around Middle America he tore up the dirt tracks, in jalopies, sprint cars and midgets, revelling in the sensations of pitching his machine sideways at 120mph, holding it in a controlled four-wheel drift and spewing dirt in the faces of opponents. Though he remained a resolutely fair and honourable racer, in this dog-eat-dog environment where no quarter was asked or given the normally easy-going Andretti transformed himself into an aggressive intimidator on a par with the legendary AJ Foyt, with whom he became a household name in American racing circles. Having made his mark on the short ovals, Andretti then conquered the giant speedways, winning the famed Indianapolis 500 and several times becoming the United States Auto Club (USAC) champion.

His versatility extended to success in as many forms of racing as he could find in America (he won the Daytona 500 for stock cars and the Sebring 12 Hours for sportscars), yet there remained a longing for his first love: Formula One racing. Next Previous 1 / 7 Zolder, May 1978: Andretti celebrates with team boss Colin Chapman after taking his Lotus 79 to victory at the Belgian Grand Prix in the car’s very first race appearance. © Sutton Images Jarama, June 1978: The Lotus 79 was key to Andretti’s championship success. He drove it to five wins and at the Spanish Grand Prix added pole position and the fastest lap of the race. © Sutton Images Brands Hatch, July 1978: Though he took the title, Andretti’s 1978 season was also tinged with sadness. He is pictured here with Lotus team mate Ronnie Peterson. The Swede was to lose his life following a start-line accident at the Italian Grand Grand Prix. © Schlegelmilch Monte Carlo, May 1979: Andretti enjoyed limited success as reigning champion.

Three outings in the ill-fated Lotus 80 saw two retirements, including here in Monaco, and a third place in Spain, his only podium appearance of the year. © Schlegelmilch Monte Carlo, May 1981: Andretti spent the 1981 season with Alfa Romeo. The team’s 179C machine proved unreliable and he finished just seven of the 15 races. The Monaco Grand Prix was not one of them. © Schlegelmilch Osterreichring, August 1981: Andretti’s difficult 1981 season continued with another retirement in the Austrian Grand Prix. He ended his last full year in Formula One racing with just three points, all of them from the season opener at Long Beach. © Schlegelmilch Monza, September 1982: Andretti plays super sub. Called up by Ferrari to replace the injured Didier Pironi, he put the 126C2 on pole for the Italian Grand Prix and went on to finish an impressive third.

© Sutton Images At Indianapolis in 1965 (where he finished third in a race won by Jim Clark in a Lotus) Andretti was promised a future Formula One drive by Lotus boss Colin Chapman. In 1968 Andretti made a sensational Formula One debut, qualifying his Lotus 49 on pole position for the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Chapman was then prepared to offer him a full-time drive (to replace Clark who was killed earlier that year) but Andretti was unwilling to abandon the security of his by then very lucrative career in America and would only agree to those occasional Formula One outings that his USAC commitments allowed. Over the next few years his Formula One appearances (in uncompetitive Lotus, March and Parnelli cars) were sporadic and inconclusive, with the notable exception of 1971, when he signed with Ferrari for a campaign in both sportscars (in which he won several races with co-driver Jacky Ickx) and Formula One, where he promptly won the season's first Grand Prix, in South Africa.

There followed a lean period in his USAC career that in 1976 prompted Andretti to finally concentrate on Formula One racing, though at the time his decision to join a then faltering Team Lotus seemed a route unlikely to lead to Grand Prix glory. The relationship between Andretti and Lotus boss Chapman was volatile (they had fiery arguments) but they eventually developed a rapport similar to the Chapman-Clark partnership that had proved so productive in the past. Though Andretti found Chapman's twitchy and unpredictable Lotus 77 frightening to drive, he managed to score a momentous victory in the final race of 1976, the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji. This first win in five years for Lotus inspired Chapman to greater effort on the drawing board and in his pioneering 1977 creation, the Lotus 78 ground effect car that Andretti helped develop, the Italian-American won four races. In 1978, with six victories, five of them in the innovative Lotus 79, Mario Andretti became World Champion.

Thereafter, Chapman lost his way and his cars were off the pace, and after two unproductive seasons Andretti moved to Alfa Romeo, only to endure two more lost years, following which he left Formula One racing to concentrate again on racing in America. Yet the lure of his first love remained and Andretti couldn't resist when Enzo Ferrari asked him to make a final guest appearance in the 1982 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. There, at the circuit where he first caught Formula One fever as an impressionable teenager, the 42-year-old Andretti qualified the Ferrari 126 Turbo on pole and finished an impressive third. Text - Gerald Donaldson Mario Andretti Racing Atlanta - Mario Andretti Net Worth Mario Andretti Racing Atlanta Read more... Mario Andretti Mario Andretti Net Worth is $100 Million. The famous racecar driver Mario Andretti has a net worth of $100 million. And to get that net worth he's raced many different kinds of cars all over the world - in fact, he's one of only two people ever to co. Mario Gabriele Andretti (bor...

Mario Andretti Net Worth is $100 Million. Mario Andretti Net Worth is $100 Million. The famous racecar driver Mario Andretti has a net worth of $100 million. And to get that net worth he's raced many different kinds of cars all over the world - in fact, he's one of only two people ever to co Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR . He also won races in midget cars, sprint cars, and drag racing. During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles , and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 , Daytona 500 and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500.

No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. Andretti had a long career in racing. He wa...

The Official Site of Mario Andretti Three-time Indianapolis 500 pole winner (1966, 1967, 1987) Pikes Peak Hill Climb winner (1969) Three-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner (1967, 1970, 1972) USAC National Dirt Track Champion (1974) International Race of Champions (IROC) Champion (1979) Only driver to be named Driver of the Year in three different decades (1967, 1978, 1984) Named Driver of the Quarter Century (1992) by vote of past Drivers of the Year and a panel of 12 journalists Named Driver of the Century by The Associated Press (December 10, 1999) Named American Driver of the Century by RACER magazine (January, 2000) All-time leader in Indy Car pole positions won (67) All-time Indy Car lap leader (7,595) All-time leader in Indy Car race starts (407) All-time leader in wire-to-wire Indy Car victories (14

) Second all-time in Indy Car victories (52) Only driver ever to win Indy Car races in four decades Oldest race winner in Indy Car history, with 1993 victory at Phoenix at age 53 Only driver to win the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and the Formula One World Championship From 1961 to 2000, competed in 879 races, had 111 wins and 109 poles (includes all forms of motorsports) Career Wins / 111 total 52 Indy Car victories (USAC and CART) 12 Formula One victories (FIA) 9 Sprint car victories (USAC) 9 Midget victories (ARDC, NASCAR and USAC) 7 Formula 5000 victories (SCCA/USAC) 7 World Sports Car victories (FIA) 5 Dirt Track victories (USAC) 4 Three-Quarter Midget victories (ATQMRA) 3 IROC victories 2 Stock car victories (NASCAR and USAC) 1 Non-championship race Mario Andretti - University of Racing Mario Andretti Born: February 28, 19

40 Home: Nazareth, PA Mario Andretti and his twin brother Aldo were born into an Italian family in Montona (now Motovun, Croatia), Istria.

Their parents were Luigi Andretti, a farm administrator, and his wife Rina. Istria was then part of Italy, but became part of Yugoslavia at the end of World War II as confirmed by the Treaty of Paris. In 1948, the Andretti family left Montona during the Istrian exodus, ending up in a refugee camp in Lucca, Italy. They emigrated to the United States of America in 1955, settling in Nazareth in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley with just $125 to their name. Mario became a naturalized United States citizen in 1964. Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars, sprint cars, and drag racing.

During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship (1978), and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti’s victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.

With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five decades. In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom. In 2000, Andretti was named Driver of the Century. In the US, he was the Driver of the Year for three years (1967, 1978, and 1984), and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades. He was named the U.S. Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001, the United States National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990.

Mario Andretti smiles in victory lane after winning the 1967 Daytona 500 driving for Holman Moody About Us !cons Brand products creates classic, iconic die cast replicas at 1:24 scale. “Created by Icons” assures the collector of an educational and unique experience, at the best price value in the business. Mario Andretti, Formula one racer • Biography & Facts Mario Andretti Formula one racer Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney ). He also won races in midget cars, and sprint cars.During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI.

To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya , the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.

With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom. Personal facts Mario Andretti | hobbyDB Mario Andretti Driver Mario Gabriel Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars, and sprint cars. During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI.

To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times. With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.

In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom. Related Cars The Official Site of Mario Andretti TODAY 1940s Mario was born in Montona, Italy (now Croatia), about 35 miles from the northeastern city of Trieste. World War II broke out around the time he was born, at the beginning of 1940. When the war ended, the peninsula of Istria, which is where Montona was located, became part of Yugoslavia. So the Andrettis were inside a Communist country. The family stuck it out for three years, hoping that the only world they had ever known would right itself. In 1948, they decided to leave. Their first stop was a central dispersement camp in Udine. About a week later they were transferred to Lucca, in Tuscany. For seven years, from 1948 to 1955, the Andrettis lived in a refugee camp in Lucca. They lived in one room with several other families - with blankets separating each one's quarters.

Unfortunately, it was not just 'pick up and go'. Formal requests for visas had to be submitted to the American Consulate. Only so many people got visas. And when they reached a quota, there were no more granted. And many people were trying to leave. Some were going to Argentina, some to Australia, some to Canada. Everyone followed their imagination. And some people stayed. Whatever you thought was your best bet. 1950s The Andrettis waited several years for U.S. visas. When they were finally granted, the family of five left all their belongings behind and began their new life in America. On the morning of June 16, 1955, the Italian ocean liner Conte Biancamano arrived into New York Harbor. Settling in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, the family of five had $125 and didn't speak English. Mario and his twin brother, Aldo, were 15. In 1954, a year before arriving in the United States, the twins had gone to Monza to watch the Italian Grand Prix. They were only 14 years old, but motor racing was becoming more and more of a dream for both boys.

In those days, it was more popular than any other sport in Italy. That was especially true in the 1950s, when Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo were the top players in Formula One. And the world champion at that time was Alberto Ascari - Mario's idol. So imagine the thrill when, a few days after arriving in America, the Andretti boys discovered a race track - right near their home in Pennsylvania. It was a half mile oval track, which was different than what they had seen in Europe. And the cars were modified stock cars, not sophisticated grand prix cars. But there was a lot of speed. And it looked very, very do-able to them. The twins were now on a mission. To become a racer, you need your own car. And there are only three ways to obtain a car: Steal it (which was against their principles). Buy it (except they didn't have any money). Or build it yourself (their only real option). They set out listening to anybody who had even the slightest knowledge of a race car. They found out about engines, shocks, spring rates, suspension, chassis setup, and on and on.

With some local friends they built a car - a 1948 Hudson Hornet Sportsman Stock Car - and raced it for the first time in March of 1959. Four years after arriving in America, Mario and Aldo were racing. While Aldo didn't have the same good fortune, Mario's career flourished as he won 20 races in the sportsman stock car class in his first two seasons. 1960s Mario's "first victory of consequence" came on March 3, 1962, a 100-lap feature TQ Midget race at Teaneck, NJ. On Labor Day in 1963, he won three midget features on the same day - one at Flemington, NJ and two at Hatfield, PA. After joining the United States Auto Club in 1964, Mario finished third in the sprint car point standings, capped by a dramatic victory in a 100-lap race at Salem, IN.

He also drove in his first Indy Car event at Trenton, NJ on April 19, 1964, starting 16th and finishing 11th in the 100-mile race, and earned $526.90 in his professional debut. Mario won his first Indy Car race in 1965, the Hoosier Grand Prix, and finished third in the Indianapolis 500, earning him Rookie-of-the-Year honors. He went on to win his first Indy Car Championship that year - with 12 top-four finishes - and became the youngest driver (at age 25) to win that title. In 1966, he won eight Indy Car races, his first pole at the Indy 500 and a second straight national championship. In 1967, Mario's passion for racing saw him compete and win in the Daytona 500 stock car race, take his second pole at the Indy 500, claim his first of three career victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race, finish as runner-up in the Indy Car national championship and be named Driver of the Year for the first time.

He even tried drag racing in 1968 - driving a Ford Mustang - and earned eight more Indy Car victories en route to second place in the Indy Car point standings. Realizing a lifelong dream, Mario qualified on the pole in his very first Formula One race at the 1968 U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, but was forced out of the race with a clutch problem. But Grand Prix racing was in his blood and the decade of the Seventies would see his dream come true. Mario's celebrated win in the Indianapolis 500 came in 1969. He led a total of 116 laps and established 15 of 20 new records set during that event. Mario scored a total of nine wins and five pole positions that season and went on to win his third national Indy Car title. He ended the decade with a total of 30 victories and 29 poles out of 111 Indy Car starts.

1970s The 1970s proved to be a decade of successful versatility for Andretti, beginning with his second victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1970, followed by his first Formula One triumph in South Africa, driving for Ferrari in 1971. His mastery of endurance racing was at its zenith in 1972, when he co-drove a Ferrari 312P to victory with Jacky Ickx at the 6 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, BAOC 1000 km at Brands Hatch and Watkins Glen 6 Hours. He continued his attack on the open-wheel series, winning a total of seven Formula 5000 events in 1974 and 1975, while finishing second in points in both seasons. He also took the USAC National Dirt Track Championship title in 1974, with three wins. Andretti returned full-time to the Grand Prix circuit in the mid-seventies. His quest for the world title began in earnest in 1976, racing for the legendary Colin Chapman at Team Lotus.

Their first taste of success came in the year's final Grand Prix in Japan, a race Andretti won in a monumental downpour. Conditions, in fact, were so bad that Niki Lauda pulled into the pits and forfeited his chance to attain the championship. In 1977, Mario was third in the world standings with seven poles and four wins, including Grand Prix victories in his native Italy (Monza) and again in the United States (Long Beach). The culmination of his international career came in 1978, when he won the World Championship driving for Lotus, making him the first driver in motor racing history to win the Formula One and Indy Car titles. Mario dominated the scene with nine poles and six wins in the revolutionary "ground effects" Lotus, which he had worked so hard to develop, and joined Phil Hill (1961) as the only American ever to capture the world title. He was again honored by being selected Driver of the Year, in recognition of his accomplishments. Andretti topped the sport's best again in 1979, taking the International Race of Champions (IROC) series. As the decade came to an end, his full-time return to Indy Cars was imminent.

1980s In 1980, Mario competed for one last season with Team Lotus but was plagued by mechanical problems. He switched to the Alfa Romeo team in 1981, in what was to be his last full-time stint as a Formula One driver. When the call came from his old friends at Ferrari to replace the injured Didier Pironi in 1982, Andretti put the car on pole at Monza and finished third, much to the delight of his Italian fans. The final Grand Prix start of his career was in the last race of the season at Las Vegas; however, a mechanical failure caused his day to end early. All told, Mario earned 12 victories and won 18 poles in a total of 128 Grand Prix starts. As he returned to the States in the early 1980s to concentrate on Indy Car competition, Andretti teamed with his son Michael and Philippe Alliot to compete at the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1983, where they qualified and finished third, the highest finish for a non-factory team. It was also Mario's first season with the newly-formed Newman/Haas Racing team.

The 1984 Indy Car season proved to be a memorable one for Andretti, who at age 44, won his fourth national championship by winning six events, eight pole positions and setting ten track records. The season was capped with his third Driver of the Year selection, bestowed for the first time by unanimous vote, making Mario the only man to ever win the trophy in three different decades (1969, 1978, 1984). As the 80s progressed, Andretti continued to make racing history with some personal milestones. With his son, Michael, they established the first-ever, father-son front row in qualifying for the 1986 Phoenix Indy Car event, a feat they accomplished a total of ten times before the close of the decade. In 1987, in the debut of the Chevrolet-powered engine, Mario sat on the pole eight times, including his third pole at the Indy 500. He went on to lead 170 of the first 177 laps before engine failure cut his day disappointedly short.

Mario won his 50th Indy Car race at Phoenix and his 51st at Cleveland in 1988. As the decade came to a close in 1989, Andretti took on what would be the ultimate teammate -his son, Michael. It marked the first father-son team in Indy Car history. 1990s With his two sons (Michael and Jeff) and his nephew (John Andretti), Mario made another "first" as the four family members competed in the same Indy Car race at Milwaukee, June 3, 1990. The following year, the four Andrettis raced against one another for the first time in the Indianapolis 500. Jeff was voted Rookie of the Year, joining Mario (1965) and Michael (1984) as the only three members of the same family to win the award. In 1992, Mario achieved two new milestones.

He became the oldest Indy Car pole winner when he earned his record-setting 66th pole at the Michigan 500 and, at Cleveland, he set an all-time record for most Indy Car race starts with 370 (Mario finished his career with 407 starts). He was also named Driver of the Quarter Century by a vote of all former Driver of the Year winners and a panel of 12 journalists. As he began his 35th year of professional racing in 1993, Mario continued to make headlines with his 52nd Indy Car victory at the Phoenix 200, making him the first driver to win Indy Car races in four decades and the first driver to win races in five decades. This race also marked his 111th major career victory. Records continued to be made in 1993, when Mario set a world closed-course speed record (234.275 mph) in qualifying for the Michigan 500, as he earned his 67th pole. This record stood intact until 1996, a year after the track was repaved.

Mario decided that 1994 would be his final year of competition as a Indy Car driver. The season-long farewell campaign, entitled Arrivederci, Mario featured special tributes, salutes and honors at every race venue. As he sped around a Indy Car track for the last time on October 9, 1994 at Laguna Seca Raceway, the legend of Mario Andretti assumed its place in the record books and in the hearts of his many fans. Even though officially retired, Mario continued the next few years to seek the one major trophy missing from his mantle, the 24 Hours of LeMans. He competed an additional four times in the world's most prestigious endurance race, winning the WSC class and finishing second overall in 1995. Today Today Mario is a spokesman, associate and friend to top executives around the world. He works with Bridgestone Firestone, MagnaFlow, Mattel, Phillips Van Heusen, Honda and GoDaddy.

Healthy and fit, he looks as though he could slip right back into the cockpit of a race car and often does, in the two-seater which allows for a passenger to sit behind the driver and truly experience the speed and pressure that comes with open-wheel racing. Mario remains vibrant, pursuing other passions, still working at a number of personal business ventures including a winery and petroleum business. He plays tennis, enjoys waterskiing and flying his ultralight. He was in the first Cars movie. He's on Twitter and Facebook, carries a tablet computer and stays current in the digital era. He isn't just any 72-year-old, any more than he was just any race car driver. He remains one of the most popular interviews in racing and the most respected voice in motorsports. He is a much sought-after source by journalists from all over the world.

Mario Andretti - Biography - IMDb Mario Andretti Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (23) | Personal Quotes (24) Overview (3) 5' 7½" (1.71 m) Mini Bio (1) One of America's greatest racing drivers, Mario Andretti has virtually won it all, the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the International Race of Champion series (IROC), the CART and Formula 1 World titles. Andretti was born in Croatia (he has a twin brother - Aldo) and with his family moved to the United States in 1955. Ever since he was a little boy, his goal was to win the world championship and he accomplished this in 1978 as America's second and last world champion (he was naturalized when he was in his teens). He later won the CART title (America's top open-wheel series) and retired from racing in 1995. His son Michael is also a CART champion and still races (as of 10-99).

Andretti is still enormously popular with race fans and is one of the most recognized personalities in the sport. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ken Severson Spouse (1) ( 25 November 1961 - present) (3 children) Trivia (23) One of the greatest and most versatile racing drivers of all-time. Mario was the 1978 Formula 1 World Champion, IROC Champ in 1980, CART Champ in 1965,66,69,84. Winner of the 1969 Indianapolis 500, 1967 Daytona 500, 1969 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, and Daytona & Sebring endurance events. 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner. 1967 Daytona 500 winner. 1978 Formula 1 World Champion. Won 52 races in USAC/CART racing competition. Won 12 races in Formula 1 competition, the most of any American driver. Only man to win the Indy 500, Daytona 500, CART title and F1 title.

Moved to the United States from Italy in 1955. Has identical twin brother, Aldo Andretti . Born in Croatia to Italian parents, he and his family spent several years after World War II in European refugee camps before emigrating to the US. Uncle of race driver John Andretti . Used to race for Paul Newman 's Newman-Haas team. Won more than $12 million in prize money. Father of Michael Andretti , Barbara Andretti ( Barbie Andretti ) and Jeff Andretti . Had planned to become a welder, but at age 19 he falsified a driver's license so he could pass for 21 and enter an amateur car race. Became a U.S. citizen in 1964. Like their father, both Michael Andretti and Jeff Andretti were Indy 500 Rookies of the Year, Michael in 1984 and Jeff in 1991. During a practice lap before the qualifying sessions for the 1977 Indy 500, he became the first driver at the track to top 200 mph.

Grandfather of Marco Andretti , Marissa Andretti and Lucca Andretti. Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005. Shook down one of his son Michael's IRL cars at Indy when the car flipped thirty feet into the air off Turn One, high enough to clear the fencing - Mario emerged unhurt in the second turn. [April 2003] Personal Quotes (24) If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough. [on excellence] Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to unrelenting pursuit of your goal--a commitment to excellence--that will enable you to attain the success you seek. You do a period of go-karting until you're at the age of qualifying for a ride in a 'school-kart,' then you qualify for driving school. And several of the driving schools have a competition series for their own students. The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses. I lived the true American dream, because I was able to pursue what I set as my goals at a very young age. Desire is the key to motivation. Speed is relative. You have to live it.

You can't just jump into it. You have to live it all the time. Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. What I learned is that in business you must make decisions based on facts, not react with your heart. I've always said I didn't have a Plan B in life. I was in pursuit of my dream from the very beginning. It's all about desire and passion. At all costs. Failure is success if we learn from it. Love what you do. Believe in your instincts. And you'd better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day. In racing, there is no question who is best - the first one to cross the finish line wins first prize. But with wine, even if you make the best wine in the world, someone isn't going to like it, because it isn't their style. Judging wine is very subjective. Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.

A goal isn't something you just arrive at and stop.You have to stay curious and hungry and foolish.... The first time I fired up a car, felt the engine shudder and the wheel come to life in my hands, I was hooked. It was a feeling I can't describe. I still get it every time I get into a race car. A racing car is an animal with a thousand adjustments. For every negative, there's a positive. It's in everything. How you deal with life, outlook, how much energy you put into achieving something. That's why I detest entitlement. Anything that's worthwhile is going to call for some sacrifice. Nothing worthwhile will come to you without a price. People think in sports, you have different rules. You really don't. It's whatever motivates you, It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One Level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down. You do the best you can with what's thrown at you, then you try again. Do it no matter what. If you believe in it, it is something very honorable. If somebody around you or your family does not understand it, then that's their problem.

But if you do have a passion, an honest passion, just do it. Motor racing is like one big family, ultimately, and when you come back to it, that's really what it feels like. I don't have many superstitions, just dumb things I don't talk about. I will not sign an autograph with a green pen. If you don't come walking back to the pits every once in a while holding a steering wheel in your hands, you're not trying hard enough See also Mario Andretti - F1 GPDC F1 GPDC World Champion: 1978 World Champion 1978 Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars, and sprint cars.

During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti’s victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits. Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984). He was also one of only three drivers to win races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.

With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to win IndyCar races in four different decades and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five. In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, similar to Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.

Question: What was the nationality of the racing driver Mario Andretti, who was World Champion in 1978?
Answer: AMERICAN